Strangely Linear
by blue-wardrobe
Summary: The Doctor didn't appear at Amy and Rory's wedding reception. Why?


Strangely Linear  
>Summary: The Doctor didn't appear at Amy and Rory's wedding reception. Why?<br>Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who or anything like that. But I do own a bunk bed with myself.

* * *

><p>Chapter 1: Absence and Change<p>

Amy, laughing after what her mum had just said about dad, slowed to a stop when she saw a woman with the wildest mane of curly hair walked by the windows. Without much conscious thought, she stood, and stared outside. For some reason Amy felt as though she recognised the woman. But where?

"Amy? You OK?"

Snapping out of her train of thought, Amy glanced at Rory.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm..." she sits down then. "fine."

A strange feeling pulled at her. Something about that woman triggered something in her. It felt as though she had lost something and wanted it back desperately. Where did she meet that woman?

"Right. Er... You're crying."

Amy felt the tears falling then. She lifted a hand to touch and came away with wetness. She was as puzzled as Rory.

"So I am," Amy said. She looks to Rory questioningly and lost, "Why am I doing that?"

Unsure, Rory ventured for the probable conclusion.

"Because you're happy, probably. Happy Mrs Rory. Happy, happy, happy."

Amy didn't feel happy at all. She shook her head.

"No. I'm sad. I'm really, really sad."

Rory looked away. She could see the hurt in his expression but Amy was too busy to look into why. She wanted to know why she was sad. She shouldn't be sad.

"Great."

"Why am I sad?"

Rory shrugged. Amy looked down at the table infront of Rory and saw a book. No, it was a journal. It was faded blue and its pages looked old. Rory picked it up when he saw Amy staring at it.

"Oh, er, someone left it for you. A woman."

Amy took it from Rory. It must have belonged to the woman who walked past the window.

"But what is it?" Amy muttered, flipping through the pages.

There were no words in the pages.

"It's a book."

"And it's blank?"

"It's a present."

Amy shut the book and glanced at Rory again.

"But why?"

"Well, you know the old saying. The old... wedding... thing. Huh?"

Slowly, things were coming back to her. Voices, images, which turned to vague memories of something she couldn't quite explain yet. But she was remembering and the feeling! She thought harder, soaking everything that came back to her up. She still couldn't tell what the memories were about but she was trying. She was finally beginning to remember the things she had tried hard to remember.

Amy looked around the room, vaguely noticing her dad stand and begin his speech. Amy saw one of the guests wearing a red bowtie. Her eyes continued to trail over the crowds of guests seated and spotted another guest wearing blue braces. She wondered about the significance. They were tugging at her. It was frustratingly on the tip of her tongue. She looked down at the journal again...

And then the connection became stronger. A man, who wore bowties, braces, boots, and tweed coats. A man with a funny looking face and a weird sort of walk. A mad man really, with a box. A special blue box that was bigger on the inside and... She had adventures with him and then Rory came along too. The man's name... what was his name? Who was he?

Abruptly Amy was on her feet again.

"Shut up, Dad!" Amy snapped.

"Amy?"

"Amelia?"

"Sorry, but shut up, please! There's someone missing...someone important. Someone so, SO important."

"Amy, what's wrong?"

"Sorry," Amy cleared her throat quickly. "Sorry, everyone. But when I was a kid, I had an imaginary friend."

"Oh no, not this again," Amy heard her mum sigh beside her.

"The raggedy Doctor. My raggedy Doctor. But he wasn't imaginary. He was real."

"The psychiatrists we sent her to!" her mum said to the others, in an apologetic way.

"I remember you," Amy said, stronger, over the tops of the murmurings. "I remember! I brought the others back, I can bring you home, too. Raggedy man, I remember you, and you are late for my wedding!"

There was silence afterwards. There was no change. No one came walking through the doors. Amy frowned, she tried harder. The Doctor. That was his name. She remembers him and it was up to her to bring him back to reality. But where was he? She knew him. He wouldn't have missed this for the world.

"I found you," Amy continued, "I found you in words, like you knew I would. That's why you told me the story...the brand new, ancient blue box. Oh, clever. Very clever."

"Amy..."

Amy ignored Rory as well as pushing to the side the growing feeling of disappointment. He was coming. He'd come. He'll walk through those doors and laugh, they'll hug and maybe Amy will sneak in a kiss, and everything will be alright again.

More silence followed. The murmuring returned. Amy held her breath. She stared intensely at the doors before gazing at each window in annoyance and helplessness. There was no materialising TARDIS, not a sound. And the doors didn't move an inch. Nobody was coming. Amy remembered the Doctor, the Last of the Time Lords! All the adventures they had. Venice, the Angels, Prisoner Zero, Churchill, the Dream Lord, Vincent, the Pandorica... They were real. They happened. And this journal is River's, a woman from the Doctor's future. Amy remembered everything that had happened when she was with the Doctor. But nothing happened. He wasn't coming.

Amy choked back a sob, pushed her chair back and ran out of the hall. She hurried down the corridor, out the front doors and into the courtyard, and just kept on going. She simply wanted to get away from it all. Tears were falling fast now and her sobbing was almost uncontrollable. She wished Mels was here. She always made things better. The day of her wedding and Mels didn't want to be her bridesmaid because of her 'I don't do weddings' principle.

From the corner of her eye she saw the same woman who walked past the window before, seated by herself on a stone bench facing the small pond in the more secluded area surrounded by tall hedge walls. It was strange to see River look so confused. She kept rubbing her head as though she had a headache.

Forcing back her crying, Amy called out to the woman.

"River!" Amy called out.

River's head snapped up and when she saw her there was a melancholy look on her face. Amy rushed through the arch and into the small area. She halted infront of River.

"So? Where is he?" Amy said, hiccupping.

River looked out the archway and then up at the sky. She sighed and closed her eyes.

"I don't know."

"Come on. You should know. His future is your past, right?"

"Something's wrong," River murmured, looking away. "I remember... having two pasts."

Amy blinked. Was River trolling her?

"What?" Amy said, having calmed since the conversation began, only to listen to this strangeness.

River didn't answer.

"How's that possible?" Amy asked.

"I don't know."

"Well... tell me," Amy said softly, almost begging, sitting down beside the woman.

"I can't."

Amy frowned and asked, "Why not?"

River chuckled bitterly.

"Spoilers."

Amy rolled her eyes, knowing she'd never get a straight answer if she questioned River more.

"I remember him," Amy said, changing the subject. "You remembered him before I did. You gave me your diary."

River smiled a little. "Well. I knew _something_ was wrong."

Someone came rushing towards them. Amy looked up to see Rory. He came to a stop when he saw them. He looked between Amy and River while in one hand he clutched River's diary. It looked like he recognised River but didn't know her name. Amy stood up.

"Rory," she said, addressing her new husband. "You have to remember. The Doctor and his TARDIS."

Rory slowly shook his head but Amy could see that he felt something wasn't right. She could see him thinking.

"Don't you remember?" Amy prompted, "Venice with the Vampire-ish women? The Last Centurion? The collapse of the universe? Rory you have to remember."

Rory opened and closed his mouth. He looked away, his eyes falling onto the journal in his hand.

"I... I was plastic..."

"Yeah..." Amy said, nodding and waiting for Rory to say more.

"I... guarded the Pandorica box... We put you inside it to... to heal."

Inside, Amy's heart sang. He was remembering!

"Keep going," she said encouragingly.

Rory slowly smiled. He looked up, his blue eyes meeting Amy's greens.

"I waited for you," he said, his voice full of wonderment. "For two _thousand_ years, I waited."

The spark in his eyes dimmed slightly, a look of horror covering his face.

"He sacrificed himself. The Doctor _sacrificed_ himself. For the universe. How did we forget the Doctor? He was the stripper at my stag!"

Amy laughed at the unexpected bit of information, finally feeling as though the weight was off her shoulders. Just imagining the Doctor stripping for entertainment was hilarious. She dragged Rory closer to them and pulled him into a hug who hugged back without hesitance. She could hear River laughing beside them. Rory laughed along.

When laughter subsided, Amy and Rory pulled away from each other. Rory turned to River who had also stood up.

"You're River Song," Rory said, stating the obvious. "Cleopatra... The Doctor's friend. From his future."

"Yes I am," River said with a smug smile. "We're friends... of sorts."

"Erm... You can have this back," Rory said, holding out the journal to River. "I didn't peek or anything."

River took it from him, still smiling, and said, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Rory said.

He looked at both Amy and River again.

"So. Where's the Doctor?" he questioned.

They were quiet. River tossed and turned her journal between her hands absentmindedly. The pages sounding like rough parchment now showed inking and words filled in their pages.

"We don't know," River said, sounding exasperated for the fact that the Doctor was absent, but Amy could see she was worried. "He's not here, that's for sure."

"He should be, shouldn't he?" Amy said, looking at River inquiringly. "You probably know him better than we do."

River looked down at her diary and began looking through the entries. River sighed again and shook her head.

"Ah. Just as I had suspected," she murmured to herself. She snapped the book shut before saying out loud, looking at Amy and Rory, "There's not much I can do. If my straightening of converging timelines is correct, which it most certainly is, he should have been at your wedding reception a moment ago."

Amy tried to understand. She looked at Rory who looked as lost as she did. Neither of them remembered any 'original' timeline.

"Okay," Amy cuttingly, folder her arms. "What are you talking about?"

River quirked an amused smile.

"As I told Amy before, I'm recalling two timelines of my life," River informed Rory. "Now, I don't know whether it is because I've had more than a fair share of time travelling or something else but at the moment, I feel as though this has happened before but at the same time it's obvious I haven't because it's different. Take now for instance. From an old timeline I seem to have experienced, the Doctor came to your wedding reception, taught the children at the reception his ridiculous dance moves, returned to me my diary and vortex manipulator, and then he took the two of you off to your honeymoon. As you can see, he isn't here, he isn't dancing, he hasn't returned my vortex manipulator, and his TARDIS isn't parked right beside this fountain."

Holding her journal up as though she was showing it to them for the first time, she shook her head again, looking like she couldn't believe the strangeness.

"This holds my past accounts of this timeline of my life," River said. "It's completely different to what I'm now quite certain was the original timeline. Something must have happened for the Doctor to not come to your wedding as we know he would have if circumstances were normal. Perhaps he too is recalling a difference. He isn't simply called a Time Lord for nothing. And he should have been at your wedding reception if he knew any better instead of making matters worst. Changing timelines as well as my past! It's a wonder how my mind still races. Oh, when I get my hands on that man..."

If looks could kill, the Doctor would be dead wherever he is just by the intensity River has in her eyes right now.

Amy reached out for the diary, almost hypnotically, but River snatched it back, putting it into her pocket.

"Uh-uh-uh! Spoilers," River said, smirking.

Amy grumbled and stage muttered to Rory, "I hate spoilers."

River smiled and she sighed but this time it was more relaxed. She rolled her shoulders.

"Well, this is certainly more interesting," River said, sounding slightly sarcastic, "It looks like our lives will become more linear than they originally were." She flipped through the pages again. "Or not. You'll see soon enough."

River began to walk away.

"Wait!" Rory said. "Where are you going?"

"Well, I'm a fifty first century girl. I don't belong here."

"And the Doctor has your manipulator..." Rory said slowly.

He and Amy exchanged looks. An agreement was made.

"Stay," Amy urged River. "My parents won't mind. We have, like, two extra bedrooms just waiting to be used."

"Oh, well, thank you for the offer but I don't think I should. If I stay around any longer I'll be creating a paradox. You'll be meeting a younger me quite soon."

Smirking in a way that showed she knew something they didn't, River added, "I wouldn't be surprised if you already have."

"Er, right," Rory said awkwardly. "So, this is goodbye?"

"For now," River replied.

"Bye," Amy said, unsure, "and thanks. For helping us bring him back."

River did a little curtsey before she turned and walked away. They let her, watching her until she was out of their sight.

That night, their wedding night, they didn't do the traditional wedding night thing. Amy was too angry, worried, and frustrated that the Doctor hasn't appeared and Rory was too exhausted from answering the questions from family and friends about Amy's wellbeing, to even think that Amy's worrying was a bit displaced especially on their wedding night. Neither of them could remember anything wrong about how their lives were progressing. It seemed normal. And felt normal. They couldn't sense a difference at all. Nothing felt wrong. But River and probably the Doctor too did know. How that was possible, they probably won't ever know. But for River and most likely the Doctor too, to know that something is strange was enough to be worked up on.

"He's not picking up," Amy grumbled, dialling her mobile again. "Now we definitely know that he's ignoring us if his phone is ringing. He wanted me to remember him and he's not even here to thank me. But why? Why is he ignoring us?"

Rory yawned, rubbing his face with his hand tiredly.

"Something... must have happened in our future in the... original timeline," Rory said.

"But what could have happened?"

"Something dangerous, probably?"

"We've never had a problem with that before."

Rory looked like he was going to protest but didn't say anything. Amy caught the look and conceded.

"Except for the whole dying thing," Amy corrected. "Other than that, we've always been up for it. Why stop now?"

Rory shrugged.

"If he isn't going to answer his phone, we'll make our own sign. Something big that will grab his attention."

"Knowing him, anything alien catches an attention span like his..." Rory muttered.

Amy nodded a little. She stood up and began pacing the floor, thinking. Rory thought with her. They eventually fell asleep from exhaustion.

Deeeeeerpsta.


End file.
